thanksgiving planning

Thanksgiving is two weeks away and I've begun planning my dinner. My daughter will spend the holiday with her husband's family as will my son who will spend the holiday with his future in-laws. With just my husband and I home alone, I'll still make a Thanksgiving dinner for the two of us.

As I don't know my work schedule yet for Thanksgiving week, I already started my holiday food shopping. On the menu is Butternut Squash-Apple Soup, Great Grandma Freid's turkey dressing, hotel style turkey breast, sweet potatoes (I'm not sure on the preparation for those yet) and perhaps some Brussel sprouts. For dessert, pumpkin cheesecake crumble squares.

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The soup recipe came off a jar of puree butternut squash that I purchased a long time ago at Williams-Sonoma. I recently read the online reviews for this current product and the reviews weren't positive. I have made my own butternut squash puree by cooking the squash in my pressure cooker and merely pureeing it in either my food processor or blender. You can also peel and cut the squash into cubes and roast in a preheated 400 oven for approximately 30 minutes or until tender. 

As the kids aren't here this year, ​I purchased a hotel style turkey breast (just the breast, not wings or legs) at Wegmans $3.99/lb. May I also suggest that if you are having a large crowd for dinner, this is a good option to go with. I am not sure if I'll just roast the turkey or try one of the recipes I have in my file. Note: One year we were about ten for dinner, and I opted to prepare two hotel style turkey breasts as the cooking/oven time was less than if I prepared one large bird.

One year for Thanksgiving I thought I would give a Williams-Sonoma boxed stuffing mix, unfortunately, they were disappointed that I didn't make grandma's dressing. Since then, I always make grandma's dressing. The recipe for this includes mashed potatoes, eggs and butter. Over the years I've cut back on the butter and substituted chicken stock for moisture. For the sweet potatoes side dish, I have several options, with two of the recipes coming from Delicious Orchards.

The Pumpkin Cheesecake Crumble Squares is from the October 2006 issue of Buon Appetit magazine. I love this recipe. You have the taste of the pumpkin combined with the cheesecake which gives it a nice subtle flavor. The cheesecake squares have a crust that includes flour, brown sugar, salt, butter, pecan halves and old-fashioned oats. 

I'll be typing up the recipes over the next few days and preparing the dishes ahead. To see the final product go Instragram at #donnasdailydish.